50/50 Friday (68): Book With Most Complex/Straightfoward Plot Structure

50/50 Friday is a meme hosted by Carrie @The Butterfly Reads and I and focuses on the opposite sides of books (best/worst, differing opinions, etc).  Every week will have a new topic and several advance topics will be listed in the tab labeled 50/50 Friday!

Today's Topic: Book With Most Complex/Straightforward Plot Structure

Complex:

I just had to include two books for this category.  The first for being so complex it was generally confusing and the second for being more manageably complex.

Nevermore - James Patterson

Maximum Ride #8

Blurb:

"Maximum Ride and her faithful friends stand ready to face the two greatest threats that humankind has ever known--now combining forces in an unbeatable plot to destroy life as we know it once and for all. And this time, the enemy truly can't be stopped. The danger mounts just as the boy genetically engineered to be her "perfect match", Dylan, has finally worked his way into Max's heart--and just as her beloved Fang unexpectedly returns to the flock. An explosive confrontation between the two boys with a claim to Max's heart ensues, and the entire world hangs in the balance.

In this powerful and moving latest sequel in James Patterson's epic fantasy series, fans will finally get the answers they've been waiting for--and an ending full of shock, surprises, and the greatest conclusion you never saw coming."

This book was just complex in all of the wrong places.  Honestly, there is so much going on in this book that I got completely lost.  A lot of what happens doesn't address what happened in the previous books and what does happen is really convoluted.  I don't know, maybe I missed some essential piece but I got so turned around while reading this.

The Known World - Edward P. Jones

Standalone to date

Blurb:

"One of the most acclaimed novels in recent memory, The Known World is a daring and ambitious work by Pulitzer Prize winner Edward P. Jones.

The Known World tells the story of Henry Townsend, a black farmer and former slave who falls under the tutelage of William Robbins, the most powerful man in Manchester County, Virginia. Making certain he never circumvents the law, Townsend runs his affairs with unusual discipline. But when death takes him unexpectedly, his widow, Caldonia, can't uphold the estate's order, and chaos ensues. Jones has woven a footnote of history into an epic that takes an unflinching look at slavery in all its moral complexities."

Maybe it's because I read this while analyzing it (for a university course) but this is a much more manageable complexity.  As a reader, you're following like 4 or 5 different full-length, full-strength plot lines along with countless secondary plotlines.  There's a cast of about 20 important characters as well that you have to keep track of.  However, everything relates to everything else very well and there's a unifying theme that's going on.  Still, it's quite a handful and isn't something to be read alongside two other books if that's your style.

Straightforward:

Me Before You - Jojo Moyes

Me Before You #1

Blurb:

"Louisa Clark is an ordinary young woman living an exceedingly ordinary life—steady boyfriend, close family—who has never been farther afield than their tiny village. She takes a badly needed job working for ex-Master of the Universe Will Traynor, who is wheelchair-bound after an accident. Will has always lived a huge life—big deals, extreme sports, worldwide travel—and now he’s pretty sure he cannot live the way he is.

Will is acerbic, moody, bossy—but Lou refuses to treat him with kid gloves, and soon his happiness means more to her than she expected. When she learns that Will has shocking plans of his own, she sets out to show him that life is still worth living.

A love story for this generation, Me Before You brings to life two people who couldn’t have less in common—a heartbreakingly romantic novel that asks, What do you do when making the person you love happy also means breaking your own heart?"

This novel has one of the more simplistic plotlines I've seen in my day.  It's basically just an exploration of Louisa and Will's relationship with no real other secondary plotlines (significant, anyway, and most of them are related to the primary plotline).  This is far from a bad thing.  The simplicity allows you to really immerse in their feelings for each other and makes it a very aromatic book as opposed to a complex, intellectual book.  The simplicity conveys a more emotional intelligence and feeling.

Have you read any of these books?  What did you think of them?  Do you prefer complex or straightforward plot structures?  Make a post and link up down below!

Next Week's Topic: Favorite Book Set in Winter/Summer